The present teachings disclose a method, apparatus, system and article of manufacture for an earplug device that communicates with at least one electronic device. The present disclosure broadens the functionality of a basic earplug into a “smart” earplug. “Smart” means the disclosed earplug device has advanced computing capabilities and connectivity. The present teachings disclose a speaker, sensors, a wireless transmission module, a battery, and a processor integrated into an earplug device that communicates wirelessly with at least one electronic device.
The present teachings describe how the user can go to sleep wearing the earplug device and still hear an alarm. Further, the alarm that awakens the user is not audible to other people, thereby not disturbing others. The present teachings disclose how the alarm gradually increases in volume, eventually reaching dB levels that will most likely awaken the user. If the user does not wake up for a pre-determined time, the earplug device triggers an alarm from the at least one electronic device to ring as a backup measure. The earplug device also has at least one biometric sensor, such as an accelerometer, that tracks motion of the user at night. This allows for tracking of sleep cycles of the user and allows for a “smart wake up” function. The “smart wake up” function will prevent the alarm from sounding while the user is in rapid eye movement (“REM”) sleep to make it easier to wake up.